shmuplations.com - 12/1 Zanac

[xxx1993]

I assume that it's on a Friday the 13th, which means mankind is doomed on the most unluckiest day.

It's a Sunday, actually.
Which means mankind is doomed on the day half the planet has a lie in.

It's a Sunday? How do you know that? It doesn't say that anywhere in the game...

[Pretas]

It's not difficult to figure out or look up the calendar of any year in the future, even hundreds of years from now. These things fall into set patterns.

[xxx1993]

I see now...

[blackoak]

bump with a new Rez developer interview from 2001, with director Jun Kobayashi. This is part of a special series of translations I'm doing to commemorate the shmuplations patreon campaign launch. I've cherished the time I've had in the last couple years to do all this translation work for free, but for it to be sustainable going forward, I'll need the support of the community.

There's some exciting stuff for those who pledge though, namely the ability to vote on what I translate each month. Certain series have been neglected (Darius, for instance), but if you pledge, you can change that! Here is a list of all the materials I have available: shmuplations.com/patreonlist

Thanks to everyone for all the support, past present and future. Looking forward to another year!

[Pretas]

Here is a list of all the materials I have available: shmuplations.com/patreonlist

I previously emailed you the lengthy PDF document that was included on the OST CD from the limited edition of Shooting Love 10th Anniversary. Did you just forget about it, or is it too long and inconsequential to make translation feasible?

[chempop]

Oh man, can’t wait to read the Jun Kobayashi interview!!

[blackoak]

Here is a list of all the materials I have available: shmuplations.com/patreonlist

I previously emailed you the lengthy PDF document that was included on the OST CD from the limited edition of Shooting Love 10th Anniversary. Did you just forget about it, or is it too long and inconsequential to make translation feasible?

It probably just slipped through the cracks, but I see it now. It's a collection of arcade stg and stg game design columns written by Toshiaki Fujino himself, that ran in Arcadia from 7/2010 to 1/2013. As they aren't interviews they sort of fall outside of the main focus of shmuplations, but there is an interview at the end with Fujino and Naoto (sound composer) that I overlooked. I'll add it to the list of available materials for voting etc!

[BIL]

Backed, and best of luck.

[trap15]

An interview with Fujino and Naoto

[blackoak]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the patreon so far! Bump today with a cool Gun Frontier interview from 2006.

Added that Triangle Service interview to the list too, hopefully someone votes on it soon...

[apatheticTurd]

Damn! Working at Taito sounds brutal.

[trap15]

That Gun Frontier article is awesome. Dude put his heart and soul into that game, and damn it shows.

[Kollision]

That Gun Frontier one was a great read!
Thanks!!

[BulletMagnet]

Not sure if you're already aware, but Kid Fenris gave you a quick shout-out in his most recent ANN column.

[EmperorIng]

I will echo the thanks for being able to read such an entertaining interview about Gun Frontier. Gun Frontier is a game that has many many problems, but I can't help but appreciate it on some level, sometimes.

I wonder what Takatsuna Senba does nowadays, if anything. He had an interesting string of games he worked on at Taito, like GF to Metal Black (which I recall one enthusiastic ebay seller calling "Senba's Masterpiece"), to Majestic 12 and Growl.

[Softdrink 117]

The Gun Frontier one is awesome to read... that game has so much soul (even though it has a lot of issues); it's cool to know the story behind it.

Where did you get the concept art images? I would love to see more if you have them (and actually this is just a general thing; if anyone has any good sources of STG concept art I'd love to know where you find it)!

[KAI]

Wow! that Nishitani Interview, I'm sharing it on a FG community.
God save that kindly security guard.
Nice work blackoak, as always.

[blackoak]

thanks everyone, I aim to please. Bump with a 1993 Compile STG developer interview with Masamitsu Niitani. In addition to the expected history of compile etc, he criticizes STG developers on the Super Famicom for their lackluster efforts. Also some talk about sequels to Super Aleste and Robo Aleste which are sure to bring a wistful tear to the eye for any Compile fan, hehe.

re: Gun Frontier, there's a similar memoire/essay by Takatsuna Senba for Metal Black and Dino Rex too, from those same pages. I'll probably try to do them soon, although the Metal Black one gets even more geeky about Taito business practices (not quite as much interesting notes about the game, imo).

@Softdrink117, I got the concept art from Takatsuna Senba's webpage. He only had a couple images of it up. It should be linked from the interview, but you might need to use archive.org, since I think he took down the direct links to the interviews+concept art.

@BulletMagnet, thanks for the heads up! I wasn't aware of that link, I'll have to send my thanks over.

thanks again to everyone who has contributed to the patreon so far! I've got two more interviews to add over the next few days, but they aren't STG related, so this will be my last update here for the month.

[rtw]

Thank you blackoak for Gun Frontier, I really enjoyed the development details from SFII as well.

Patreon is a brilliant idea, I encourage everybody who has the ability to join!

[MintyTheCat]

I read the Compile translation last night - many thanks, Blackoak. I was interested mostly in what he had to say about the weapons in Shmups and indeed his feelings on keeping pretty much the same staff on all Shmup Projects.

I wonder if Super Aleste 2 ever appeared as a prototype anywhere.

Cheers,

Minty.

[Bloodreign]

That Gun Frontier interview was quite cool, though the conditions the poor guy had to go through just to make it makes me appreciate his effort that much more. I also now know what the initials F.K. stand for in Taito games, shame that guy tragically had his life cut short by an auto accident.

[blackoak]

thanks Minty and rtw. I'm hoping to find more Compile stuff in the future, since they had so much fan interaction in the 80s/90s (hopefully not all of it puyopuyo based, haha).

Sure to make trap15 happy, I have here that Triangle Service interview Pretas mentioned several posts back. This was voted on in the monthly patreon voting (by someone here, no doubt, hehe). In addition to lots of design comments on DeltaZeal/XIIZeal, Fujino has some rather pointed things to say about his time at Konami and elsewhere, so its worth a read even if you're not familiar with Triangle Service's output.

[z0mbie90]

Made me happy aswell. Great work dude

[M.Knight]

What a lenghty and cool interview, thanks a lot blackoak!
I am not sure but I think I noticed a few typos. I guess this line was supposed to be said by Naoto :

—Such ambition! That roots of the spirit that would lead to Triangle Service was already present!

Fujino: He also told me he had drafted planning documents for a game he wanted to create, which he had uploaded to the company server. I remember he showed them to me. His designs was already very elaborate.

Plus, I believe there's one "was" too many in this answer :

—Why did you originally decide to bring XIIZeal and ΔZEAL to the X360?

Fujino: Last fall I released “geesen rabu ~purasu pengo!~” for its 10th anniversary, but then I belated realized that last October was was the 10th anniversary of Triangle Service itself. I was like, “Damn, I missed it!” (laughs)

[rtw]

Sure to make trap15 happy, I have here that Triangle Service interview Pretas mentioned several posts back. This was voted on in the monthly patreon voting (by someone here, no doubt, hehe). In addition to lots of design comments on DeltaZeal/XIIZeal, Fujino has some rather pointed things to say about his time at Konami and elsewhere, so its worth a read even if you're not familiar with Triangle Service's output.

Thank you for a very nice and detailed interview blackoak!

[Cata]

Triangle Service has always been really interesting to me since its practically almost a one-man show so thanks for the informative interview!

[BPzeBanshee]

Thanks a ton for that blackoak!

This actually answered a few of the WTFs I had concerning G-Stream G2020's music from a while back including how the music was made and why some of the instruments sound familiar. When trap15 was working on the driver for MAME he made a tool that could mass-extract the OKI samples, and when I tried it I found some of the samples were actually the "loop point" parts of the song with a crude fade-in baked into them. Good to know it's deliberate and not some emulator bug.

[blackoak]

thanks M.Knight! Always embarrassing to find little typos and oversights like that.

@BPzeBanshee, I'm glad that part made sense and is reflected in the actual code. I've done a lot of sound production and knew what he was talking about, manual fades being a pretty standard part of working with audio. But the "loop point" terminology (his words) was a little confusing. I guess there isn't really a more eloquent or simple way to describe that.

That's probably all I've got for shmups this month, though the Wolf Team collection I just finished does have a short-but-sweet interview about Granada (X68000 version).

[trap15]

Just read the Triangle Service interview last night. Crazy stuff, Fujino's a real go-getter. And he's always so cute in pictures

[RHE]

Great stuff! I have to say that Interviews of Japanese developers are not very comprehensive though.

Amazing to know that R-Type had a small hitbox but was compensated by the enemies big collision box.